“Arian Christianity, a sect which had been condemned as heretical by the Catholic Church and largely been eliminated in Europe, found a safe haven in the Iberian peninsula. The Visigoths had traditionally been Arian Christians, and it was the official religion of the Spanish Visigothic Kingdom until the conversion of Visigothic King Reccared I in 587 nominally eliminated it. However, because the Visigothic Monarchy (now Catholic) was detached from the public (Arian), the Arian undercurrent remained.”

“From 711 to 756, the Moors (mainly North African Berber warriors) swept over the Iberian Peninsula coming mostly from Morocco across the straights of Gibraltar, conquering nearly all of it and establishing a foothold north of the Pyrenees in Narbonne. They put down local rebellions and established the Emirate of Córdoba. At no point did the Islamic armies exceed 60,000 men. This launched 800 years of Islamic rule.”

“The many advances and retreats created several social types:

The Muladi: Christians who converted to Islam after the arrival of the Moors.

The Renegades: Christian individuals who embraced Islam and often fought against their former compatriots.

The Mozarabs: Christians in Muslim-held lands. Some of them migrated to the north of the peninsula in times of persecution bringing elements of the styles, food and agricultural practices learned from the Moors, while they continued practicing their Christianity with older forms of Catholic worship and their own versions of the Latin language.

The Marranos: Jewishconversos. Jews who either voluntarily or compulsorily converted to Catholicism. Some were Crypto-Jews who continued practicing Judaism secretly. All remaining Jews were expelled from Spain in Treaty of Granada of 1491, and Portugal also. Converso Jews often became victims of the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions.

The Mudéjar and Moriscos: Muslim conversos. Muslims who were compulsorily converted to Catholicism. Most were Crypto-Muslims who continued practicing Islam secretly. They ranged from successful skilled artisans, valued and protected in Aragon, to impoverished peasants in Castile. After the Alhambra Decree the entire Islamic population was forced to convert or leave, and within a century most, if not all, were expelled. “

“The Reconquista was a war with long periods of respite between the adversaries, partly for pragmatic reasons, and also due to infighting among the Christian kingdoms of the North spanning over seven centuries. Some populations practiced Islam or Christianity as their own religion during these centuries, so the identity of contenders changed over time.”